Dive Brief:
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In a call today with Construction Dive, National Association of Home Builders’ Chairman Ed Brady said President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has approached him as a possible pick for the position of Federal Housing Authority Commissioner. Trump’s team has not yet replied to a request for confirmation.
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"Being an advocate and seeing an opportunity here for a new administration to come in and make some positive changes intrigues me," Brady said. "If called upon, I certainly would be willing to talk about it."
- Brady is the president of Brady Homes, a small homebuilder in Bloomington, IL. He also serves on the advisory board of the Ron Terwilliger Foundation, is a commissioner of the Bipartisan Policy Center and the chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank’s Public Policy Committee. He has a Bachelor of Arts in political business from Illinois Wesleyan University.
Dive Insight:
The FHA, which falls under the purview of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is the world’s largest mortgage insurer, and the government agency has been integral in encouraging affordability for single-family and multifamily housing.
Current and previous FHA leadership, including Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Ed Golding and former Acting Commissioner Biniam Gebre, have come to the post with backgrounds in housing finance and research. Golding led the implementation of Freddie Mac’s Making Home Affordable loan refinancing initiative. Gebre co-founded the McKinsey Center for Government.
Brady said he could bring "a practitioner perspective" to the position, citing his experience as a second-generation homebuilder, developer and real-estate broker who has dealt with FHA compliance on a day-to-day basis. Brady has also been an outspoken critic of a recent HUD proposal to raise elevation standards for new and significantly renovated FHA-backed multifamily construction in an expanded flood zone, saying the agency is overstepping by including single-family building in its score. In an opinion piece in Builder magazine, he called the proposal "bad policy and bad governance."
Trump, who campaigned on a platform calling for reduced regulations and tax cuts, has been viewed favorably by the homebuilding industry. "Our membership felt very strongly that Donald Trump was going to win," NAHB Chief Lobbyist Jim Tobin told Construction Dive in November. "Talking to a lot of them across the country over the last months, his message was resonating outside the Beltway."
Earlier this month, Trump nominated retired neurosurgeon and one-time presidential candidate Ben Carson as HUD secretary, an unconventional pick that critics have said gives the critical agency an unexperienced head as the country faces an affordable housing crisis. Previous HUD secretaries had backgrounds in housing and governance.
While Carson has been critical of government-backed housing initiatives, instead emphasizing grassroots efforts to alleviate poverty, Brady is optimistic. "Homebuilders and the industry are rallying behind Dr. Carson," he said. "We’re hoping that his placement at HUD will raise the elevation of housing and housing policy. We’re excited about that opportunity and whether I pursue this or not, the industry is excited about putting people around him that could add to his expertise and his voice to promote and advocate for housing policy."
Inside Mortgage Finance reports Brady in addition to senior House Financial Services Committee staffer Clinton Jones as potential candidates
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